[center][h3]Ancestral Farmstead[/h3]
[b]Level 5 Tora[/b] - (37/50) EXP and [b]Level 4 Poppi[/b] - (35/40) EXP 
[b]Tora Stress:[/b] 95/100 and [b]Poppi Stress[/b]: 35/100
[b]Location:[/b] the Land of Adventure
[b]Word Count:[/b] 1083[/center]

Dodging out of the way of a perilous Koopa shell, Peach called out to Linkle in reply. “Got it!” After the heroic efforts of Tora and Poppi to keep fighting despite the heavy damage taken by the Nopon, she wasn't about to let a hair on his furry head be harmed. With the moment of peace offered to her by the Bowser crew's gambit, she took the chance to survey the hilltop. The sky, still a spectacular infinity of undulating gold, looked down upon a scene almost devoid of husks. After helping to fell the Thing from the Stars, the Centurion kept the momentum up, taking out the stragglers one after another. On the other side of the bucking Brachydios, which fought to dislodge the young men clinging to its back, Geralt seemed to be dispatching the last few. Another shell bounced Peach's way, and this time she stepped forward to plant her new boot right onto it, kicking it toward the last farmhand. The rock-hard puck swept the fossilized human's legs out from under it, sending it to the ground in a heap. Peach then sauntered up, planted the barrel of her scattershot against its back, and casually pulled the trigger. The recoil of the bone-jarring blast forced her to looked away, but when she looked again she saw only ash and crystal shards reassembling themselves into a Crystalline Aberration. Sighing, Peach reloaded and fired again.

One to go.

At least, she thought so. An agonized yell from one corner of the battlefield sparked panic in Peach and drew her gaze. Out of the corner of her eye she saw something ghastly floating above Michael, reeling from pain on the ground, but when she looked straight at it the monster disappeared. Linkle and Franklin saw it too. The latter, egged on by fear and rage, sprinted in to try and attack it straight-on, but his hurled machete missed its invisible mark. Linkle, however, fired off a couple bomb bolts in the general area. As they detonated on the ground in two subsequent plumes of flame and smoke, somehow leaving the nearby men completely unharmed, the explosions' area of effect caught the unseen entity in the blast. A distorted whinny pierced the air, and after another moment the Plow Horse reappeared about six feet to the right of where Michael lay—and within sprinting distance from Peach.

Before, the princess might have not seized the chance, but she was not the same as before. New battle sense galvanized new muscle to action, and Peach sprang forward. She dashed a short distance, momentarily leaving behind Bowser, Hat Kid, Junior, and Tora, and tossed a Grenaduck. The yellow, rubbery explosive bounced off the ground, over the horse, and behind the Plow Horse. Its small burst left Michael unharmed, but it pushed the airborne husk Peach's way, and more importantly got Michael out of her scattershot's gratuitous line of fire. Thunder and flame erupted from her weapon and ripped straight through the beast, tearing it into two hovering halves. They still moved, still alive, but Peach doubted they'd be much trouble to dispatch. The team had more pressing matters on its hands.

When she turned her attention to the Brachydios, however, she found her teammates already on the job.  The Ace Cadet had shimmied onto the monster's head to offer his knife more tender targets, and as Peach watched Courier 6 approach the head from another angle. Cadet's dagger slid into the soft, thin scales behind the Brachydios's eye, making it rear its head back, and amped up on chems 6 took his shoot. Five of them, in fact. Almost a half-dozen slugs slammed into the monster's throat, spraying blood and provoking a wet, muted growl. The next moment a cubic arrow lodged there, launched by Linkle a fair distance away, and she sent a friend to join it soonafter. All the mounting injury reached a boiling point, and the already-temperamental monster went mad. It let loose an eardrum-rattling roar, forcing anyone without protection to clamp over their ears to avoid headsplitting pain, and charged. Literally steaming mad, it stomped toward the Courier to throw out a hefty sideswipe before thundering toward Linkle. It threatened to trample the Centurion on the way, bulling mindlessly toward its target until it stepped foot on the volatile ground left by the buried Aberrations.

The timing was perfect. Earth burst up as the interred crystals exploded, sending spiky fragments and maddening Color upward in a huge arc. Linkle herself barely avoided the chaos, but the Brachydios took it wholesale, and those gripping its hide took a portion, too.

[center][i]Ace Cadet and Euden gain 20 stress[/i][/center]

Head spinning, Euden watched as the Cadet seized the opportunity. This time his knife hit the monster's unguarded eye. The Brachydios staggered, its rage muddled into confusion by the Aberrations. Like a bolt from the blue the realization hit Euden, too: this was his chance as well. Draconic power flowed through him, begging to be unleashed. He took a deep breath to steady himself, released his grip on the monster's scales, and jumped into the air. Around him the wind surged, and then, in a gale-force whirlwind, he transformed.

A giant green dragon appeared and dropped with its full weight on the Brachydios. The monster wanted to run, to flee from the losing fight and nurse its wounds, but thanks to Midgardsormr he was going nowhere. Employing his full strength, the dragon planted an elbow across Brachydios' neck, splayed its limbs with his own, and ensnared a back leg at a bad angle with his tale. Splashing slimy spittle everywhere, the Brachydios struggled, but could not escape the pin. The path to victory lay open.

Peach did not intend to squander it. The princess hustled over, scattershot in hand. Poppi looked down at Tora, both having gotten a minute or two to compose themselves, and the Nopon nodded his encouragement. “Now is Poppi time to shine!”

“Roger, roger.” With an affirmative nod of her own Poppi stood, switched back to QT mode, and boosted into the fight. Once in range she started hammering the beast's back with her Mech Arms, aiming to break bones while leaving its exposed belly for allies with cutting weapons. Her flaming metal gauntlets careened into the blue scales again and again, a constant barrage that turned scales into slivers and mashed the flesh beneath. Peach ran up to the monster's head and fired into its slimy horn, tearing a huge chunk free.

[center][h3]Nero[/h3]
[b]Location:[/b] Chief's Office, RCPD, Dead Zone[/center]

The pair searched in a near-total silence, hearing only the ticking of the elaborate grandfather clock in the chief's office and distant rumblings from somewhere in the building. Nero found nothing that might be used to open the strange lock on the gate barring the way into the adjunct attached to the private collection room, not even a hint. Joker remained quiet as he examined the place, taciturn and contemplative, but the devil hunter's patience wore thin. With the situation bearing down on the police station, he could not afford to waste time. After shaking his head in resignation, he strode over to the gate. “Well, there's more than one way to skin a cat.” He reached up with his prosthetic hand, closed it around the edges of the locking mechanism, and yanked it off. It tore free with a wrenching noise of protest, and after a few more choice applications of force, the gate swung open.

Inside he found a miniature treasure trove. An honest-to-goodness [url=https://gamepedia.cursecdn.com/fortnite_gamepedia/9/96/Treasure_chest_%28tier_1%29.png]chest[/url] lay nestled in the middle of various supplies, including emergency rations, ammunition, and medicine. Curious despite himself, Nero went ahead and opened the chest, which took a little more doing than he expected. When the lid flung open after a moment, the chest itself broke down and five items flew out to lie on the ground. There was a [url=https://vignette.wikia.nocookie.net/risk-of-rain/images/7/75/22.png/revision/latest?cb=20190401033942]ceremonial dagger[/url] with a thin black blade, a handsome [url=https://vignette.wikia.nocookie.net/leagueoflegends/images/d/de/Mikael%27s_Crucible_item.png/revision/latest?cb=20171221223616]crucible[/url], a brisk-looking [url=https://cdn.bulbagarden.net/upload/6/6a/Dream_Choice_Scarf_Sprite.png]scarf[/url], and -though Nero didn't know what it was- an alternate costume contained within a [url=https://cdn.shopify.com/s/files/1/1483/7816/articles/fullsizeoutput_35dc_11fd071b-1017-40a1-b42d-660a30399b6a_large.jpeg?v=1554670014]police badge[/url].

Nero shrugged. “Well, nothing really interesting, but at least we won't be going back empty-handed after all this time.” He grabbed as much as he could carry, figuring that Joker would do the same, and headed back out of the room toward the Main Hall.

[center][h3]Maximilian Howard[/h3]
[b]Location:[/b] Main Hall, RCPD, Dead Zone[/center]

Groaning, the police captain rubbed his head. Just when everyone got together with all their information and a resolution to this crisis was visible, something terrible had to happen. From the moment Blazermate gave the assembly her news, the mood over the entire hall had transfigured from cautiously optimistic to massively dreadful. It reminded Howard of something that happened in a lot of movies: someone asked 'how could it get any worse?' and just like that, it got worse. This time, of course, nobody had asked. Yet misfortune arrived all the same. Losing Louis hit Howard especially hard. Since his arrival the soft-spoken but extremely capable young man did everything in his power to help out those trapped in this hell, and now he was dead.

While he struggled to get his thoughts together, Donnie filled the dead air. He summed up every clue at the survivors' disposal and suggested a course of action, mentioning the station's surveillance system as well. Ratchet and Clank's postulation of radio use reached him as well. “Yeah, good calls. Radios were outdated where I'm from, so it didn't cross my mind, but there must be some in the east office, where we keep the various equipment. We can figure out who took the pages, too.” With a nod Howard turned to assign the task, only to find Jill already at work on the computer. Her eyes moved like hummingbirds, poring through four camera feeds at once for anything that might help to solve any one of the problems facing her team. Howard threw her an appreciative look, whether she saw it or not, and turned back. “Alright then. Form your own teams if you like, but do it fast. We've still got some units in the station somewhere. Nero and the kid, Lucatiel, Leon, and the guy with the cane.” Four more faces flashed in his mind, reminding him. “Plus that guy who went with Olivia. Fox went looking for Lucatiel and Leon, too.”

Howard rolled his neck and pivoted his shoulders, working out a few cramps. The others discussed a few advantages they did have, such as Jak's recovery of somewhat confusing ammo-generating capabilities, and Ratchet and Clank's apparent immunity to time-stopping. The entire idea of stopping time made Howard's head hurt, but he trusted the others knew what they were doing. When he stilled himself again, his collapsed x-baton was in his right hand. “Nowhere's safe anymore. We need to get all the civilians in one place. Damn it, we don't have enough people. Ghalt, stay here with Jill and I.” The shotgun-wielding mad nodded stiffly. “Eddie, Tess, get to the civvies on the east side, including the stair guard. If that dog's still in the break room, get him, too.” He scanned the area, searching for more fighters. He found only Fortune, aside from the new arrivals, but their previous conversations had made it clear she didn't exactly expect authority. “Can anyone grab the civvies on the west side?”

“Captain!”

Howard turned to look at Jill. She launched into her discovery without any need for prompting. “Found them. Both of them. Whoever this killer is, he's been posing as a civilian. There's a good chance he's with one of the civilian groups now. There's a fight in the Operations Room, I can't make out the details in the chaos. And I got who took the pages.” Narrowed brows overlooked hard eyes. “It was the swordfighter. Lucatiel.”

[center][h3]V[/h3]
[b]Location:[/b] Operations Room, RCPD, Dead Zone[/center]

Taking hold of Griffon's talons, V jumped into the air and allowed the bird to carry him backward. Not a second later, the fist of Mr. X crushed the metal desk he thought he'd pinned his quarry against. His eyes followed V as he fled, dead and unfeeling in a stony gray face. V clenched his teeth and glanced again at the red orb hovering above a black ashen spire near the room's door. Shadow needed another few moments to recuperate, but with X on the offensive, he might not get that time. Even with one of the dividing walls smashed by the brute giving him more space to flee in, he could not retreat forever.

X took a half step back before bodily kicking the crumpled desk. It tumbled through the air and struck V in the chest, knocking him to the ground in a wheezing heap. A few yards away, Leon pulled himself to his feet using the wall, and shouted, “Hey!” to get the tyrant's attention. X glanced his way and got a bullet in the face for his efforts, though Leon's second and third missed, and the next pull of his pistol's trigger gave up only a despairing [i]click[/i]. Empty. Ignoring him X moved forward, shouldering debris aside as he approached V. Griffon fired off a volley of purple bolts, but none so much as phased X as he advanced. 

Another shout from behind alerted X, prompting him to turn and catch Lucatiel's greatsword on his arm. Its blade cut through cloth and flesh, but not nearly far enough, and X unhurriedly brought up his other arm to sock the hollowing woman in her masked face. She staggered sideways and X resumed his march toward V, now only a couple feet away and still fighting to work his bruised lungs. Lucatiel, however, stopped her fall with a hastily-planted foot, and with a guttural scream she pivoted around to shove the tip of her greatsword into X's back.

Without a word the silent man spun around, wrenching the weapon out of Lucatiel's grasp, and delivered a blistering hook to her back that sent her sprawling, down for the count. Her mask clattered to the ground, bounced one, and stopped. Leon appeared, having limping his way over, but X elbowed him aside. Then nothing remained in the way.

He bent to pick up V by the neck and held him against the wall. V grabbed at his hand, his efforts to break free futile. Tighter and tighter the tyrant squeezed, until the darkness closed in around V. Griffon clawed at his tormentor, screeching an incoherent series of insults in a vain attempt to get X's attention, but nothing was working.

Just as his vision was about to go dark, a red laser blast struck X in the back, and he glanced over his shoulder to see the source of the disturbance. In the open doorway to the Operations Room stood an anthropomorphic fox, holding a blaster trained on X. “Put that man down!” he screamed. 

V's eyes weren't on Fox. They lay on the red orb floating right by him, a cone of black sand whirling beneath it. He watched it break, the crimson magic inside released, and called his demon to his side. Reaching for the last of his air, he croaked, “...Gouge him.”

Shadow burst from below in the form of a huge maw, like a nightmarish venus flytrap, and bit down on X from behind. A pivot of the vice's thick stem yanked the tyrant off his feet, through a backward arc, and onto the ground head-first. He went to get up as though nothing happened, but Griffon flew over him, charging his magic. “BUUUUUUURN, LITTLE PIGGY!” A sphere of brilliant purple lightning expanded from him, electrocuting X until steam rose from his coat, and his nervous system failed. Like a giant puppet his toppled over, and Shadow was waiting beneath him. 

Transforming into an ashen saw, it caught X as he fell, keeping him suspended on top of the ripping blade. Black needles rose beneath X as he was sawed, piercing both forearms and calves to hold him up on the living sawblade. Laboriously Lucatiel rose again, lifting her sword from the ground a she lurched neared. She upended the blade, placing it right next to X's neck with its tip against the ground, and with all her strength she pulled from the other side. Leon, sporting a nasty bruise on his face, joined in to help her pull, and together they dragged the greatsword's blade through X's neck and out the other side. His head hit the floor and rolled, no more dead than his still-thrashing body.

But it was faded.

An unhealthy, whitish-violet pallor had overtaken X. Still rubbing his neck, V almost laughed when he recognized it. With a flourish of his cane he blinked over to where the head lay, glaring at him with baleful, soulless eyes. V cleared his throat, raised his cane and told it, “He whose face gives no light, shall never become a star. Die.” He plunged his cane's blade into the stony face, creating an impression like cracked glass that gave forth lavender sparks. When he withdrew it, the monster died.

Exhaling, V collapsed onto the ground, where he held himself on his side. Fox approached, clearly appalled by the brutality of the tyrant's execution, and swallowed before speaking. “I...was, uh, wondering where you guys were. Are you...okay?”

He let the somewhat rhetorical question hang. Nobody before him was okay, but they were alive. That, he knew, beat the alternatives. After a few seconds he continued. “I needed to ask. Donovan found a book that might tell us about the ghost, but it's missing pages. Do any of you know where they are?”

In turn the three shook their heads. Lucatiel, however, narrowed her eyebrows after doing so, thinking hard. A couple of second later her expression turned into one of realization, and shame. “I...am sorry. I must have forgotten. It is so damnably hard to remember...these days.” She rummaged in her pockets, and turned up a couple papers. “There are ghosts where I am from. I saw the writing and thought I should take them to be prepared.” 

She held them out to Fox, who took them excitedly. “Great!” He read quickly, checking each entry for familiar information one by one. “Oh, this is it! 'Preta'!” Filled with vigor he took off running, only to stop for a moment at the door. “Hurry back to the main hall. We need to get rid of this thing, pronto!” Then Fox disappeared, though the echo of his frenzied footsteps through the corridor could still be heard.

The others picked themselves up to leave, moving slowly to relieve their collective wounds. Through the ajar door to the records room a single eye above a humorless smile watched them go, the other sightless and hidden beneath its owner's hairdo. “Inspirational,” he breathed, before vanishing in a plume of blue smoke.